LittleNipper wrote:Fundamentalists believe what the Bible has to say. There will be a New Heaven and Earth created by God. This will be for those saved. There will be an eternal New Jerusalem. These unsaved will exist somewhere else but will have no part in this reality.
Uncle Ed wrote:Some strange "doctrine" above is asserted to be LDS doctrine.
The dead or rather disembodied and enembodied (non mortals) do not "look down upon the earth" for anywhere: they are all "here" still. Joseph Smith taught that the spirit world is on earth. He didn't use the words "different dimension" but that is the concept he was teaching. Spirits are more refined matter than mortal matter and when not bound to a mortal body/tabernacle of flesh, fleshy eyes cannot see spirits. Spirits do not typically associate with the mortal world, there is a divide, a "veil" drawn between our world and the next, causing observation between the two "realms" to be curtailed except either through disobedience or authority. Thus the departed rarely have any contact with the mortal world and must live by faith in the world of spirits as much as ever they did as mortals. Joseph Smith taught that life in the spirit world resembles life on earth.
Vicarious temple work does not have any immediate effect upon the departed. They still have their free will/agency and either accept the gospel of Christ or refuse it. If they believe, then their temple saving ordinances performed by mortals reach across the "veil" that divides the living from the dead (spirits in paradise and spirit prison), and those repentant spirits are now saved just as if they had accepted the gospel of Christ in mortality.
There is no sleeping in the grave till the resurrection, all spirits continue on in much the same way as they did in mortality, with the associations and motivations and faith or lack of faith that they possessed as mortals.
During the one thousand years (Millennium) Mormons will be busy night and day in their temples performing saving ordinances for the documented dead, and the dead will be aiding mortals in discovering all the dead in the Earth's entire history, and making sure that every soul has had his/her saving ordinances performed for them. At the end of the Millennium there will be a final resurrection of the damned, i.e. those who never did accept Christ, or were "not valiant in their testimony of Jesus". Those who were "honorable men of the earth" will inherit the "terrestrial kingdom". Those who remained sinful will go to the "telestial kingdom". All others will have been resurrected prior to this as part of the "first resurrection. Those are all who accepted Mormon heaven, i.e. accepted their temple saving ordinances through conversion in the spirit world. All such enter into the celestial kingdom to live in the presence of God forever, and to either create worlds of their own without number, or to assist those in doing so. Only married men and women, sealed in Mormon temples, will have the fullest glory to create and populate worlds without number, all single yet glorified individuals will be angels helpers/assistants/servants to those who are married, as God is.....
Uncle Ed wrote:Vicarious temple work does not have any immediate effect upon the departed. They still have their free will/agency and either accept the gospel of Christ or refuse it. If they believe, then their temple saving ordinances performed by mortals reach across the "veil" that divides the living from the dead (spirits in paradise and spirit prison), and those repentant spirits are now saved just as if they had accepted the gospel of Christ in mortality.
oneprfct wrote:The ideas I wrote about were not from Mary Baker Eddy although she was inspired and closer to Jesus philosophy than the rest of Christianity. The ideas I expressed were from ACIM or A Course in Miracles. This book is 1,300 pages of Jesus explaining his philosophy on forgiveness. A research psychologist at Columbia University by the name of Helen Schucman heard a inner voice she felt was Jesus direct her to write down his words. She was raised Jewish but was atheist in belief when Jesus chose her to write down his words. She never went public with her experience and only a few of her closest friends were aware of her experience. She was ashamed to tell people of her experience because she thought it would ruin her career. She established a foundation to print ACIM and gave it the copyright so she never made a dime from the book.
ACIM is a spiritual masterpiece but I recommend reading Disappearance of the Universe by Gary Renard first. 2 enlightened disciples of Jesus appeared to Gary in 1992 and told him that the Jesus that they knew was the same Jesus of ACIM. They explained Jesus's philosophy on forgiveness and gave a comprehensive explanation on spirituality. They even made an interesting statement about Joseph Smith in the second chapter of Disappearance. All of your questions about the spirit world and where it is at and even how the universe began are contained in this book. After reading this book I understand better the nature of Joseph Smith's spiritual experiences and the nature of all spiritual experiences. I believe Joseph Smith experienced most of what he said he experienced but what those experiences meant were misinterpreted by himself and others. I also believe David Whitmer was on to something in his Address to All Believers in Christ that Joseph made a mistake in allowing himself to be made a prophet instead of telling people to obtain their guidance directly from God like Nephi advised in 2 Nephi chapter 32. Nephi did not say follow the prophet but follow the spirit. Following the prophet is an example of what Nephi described as putting your trust in the arm of the flesh. He advised newly baptized persons to follow the spirit and not him.
Bazooka wrote:Uncle Ed wrote:Vicarious temple work does not have any immediate effect upon the departed. They still have their free will/agency and either accept the gospel of Christ or refuse it. If they believe, then their temple saving ordinances performed by mortals reach across the "veil" that divides the living from the dead (spirits in paradise and spirit prison), and those repentant spirits are now saved just as if they had accepted the gospel of Christ in mortality.
How will this work be facilitated here on earth for those people deceased for whom no records can be found?
Tobin wrote:My own view is once I die, if I find I still exist I will be humbled and gratified by that. It will both be a solemn and joyous occasion as I'm reunited with good friends and family that have died before I have. After that, I look forward to the grand adventure it will be to learn and expand my horizons beyond what any human-being can in one lifetime.
Uncle Ed wrote:Some strange "doctrine" above is asserted to be LDS doctrine.
There is no sleeping in the grave till the resurrection,
During the one thousand years (Millennium) Mormons will be busy night and day in their temples performing saving ordinances for the documented dead,
I just have to pick up a phone or use the internet in our world. I can't think things are so haphazardly arranged in the life to come (if such beings are preserving us) that we would be unable to find those that have been saved before we were or that they would be unaware that we had arrived.bcuzbcuz wrote:Tobin wrote:My own view is once I die, if I find I still exist I will be humbled and gratified by that. It will both be a solemn and joyous occasion as I'm reunited with good friends and family that have died before I have. After that, I look forward to the grand adventure it will be to learn and expand my horizons beyond what any human-being can in one lifetime.
Nice idea, but it hardly sounds practical. How does one find old friends and family in the next existence? There's got to be millions and billions of spirits wandering around.
I'm sure we'll find out if we exist after this life. It's part of the adventure.bcuzbcuz wrote:Do spirits wear name tags? Cause supposedly we all get the same white coloured hair and wear white robes.